1 Samuel 6:17

And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;

The verse belongs to the account of the Philistines returning the captured ark to Israel after its presence among them brought affliction and plagues and calamity and desolation, so that they sought to be rid of it. It was after the Philistines had captured the ark that God moved them to return it to Israel with a golden trespass offering, and the affliction that followed its capture forms the setting of its return from Philistine territory. The plagues that came with the ark are the reason it was sent back.

The verse lists the golden emerods returned to the LORD as a trespass offering, one each for the five cities of Ashdod, Gaza, Askelon, Gath, and Ekron. The emerods were golden images of the painful tumors, a costly present sent as a trespass offering unto the LORD accompanying the ark. The offering accompanied the return after the presence of the ark among the Philistines brought calamity upon them, and it was determined by council to send it back to Israel with this costly present, one for each of the five lordly cities.

The ark was put on a cart drawn by two milch kine and committed to God. Though unwilling and lowing for their calves, the kine went steadily forward by divine command they could neither understand nor disobey until they reached Beth-shemesh, where the Levites met the ark, offered the cattle in sacrifice unto the Lord, and presented the costly offerings before the Lord. God accepted the Philistines' act of sending the ark on a cart because they showed deep reverence and humility and had no suitable people to carry it.

The verse belongs to the record of the church's backsliding in the days of Samuel, from which the people were restored through the ministrations of Samuel the prophet. The ark had been returned twenty years before Samuel gathered Israel at Mizpeh, and through those twenty years and for twenty years before the Philistines oppressed Israel. The return of the ark did not itself bring back true worship, and only through trouble afterward did the people feel their need and lament after the Lord.

The verse shows God placing a holiness on the sacred furniture that made even His enemies quail, and vindicating His own glory when nation, priesthood, and even the ark seemed to fail. Set in the temple of Dagon, Dagon fell on his face before the ark and then was shattered to pieces, and humiliating and distressing plagues fell so that Ashdod begged it be sent away, Gath begged it be removed, and Ekron protested it was brought to slay them and their people, until by council they determined to send it back. The ark and the law it contained were holy; possessing them was not wrong in itself, but treating them as a trophy and handling them without reverence was a misuse of sacred things that brought disaster and death in their cities, and thus God showed He could vindicate His own glory and lead His own way without the help or wisdom of man. The surrounding chapter is also the account of the Bethshemites looking into the ark, which was an act of presumption.

❧